My name is Nick Fisherman III. It's not my real name, but that's not because I'm trying to hide from my former agency, or something. I named myself after someone I've known for most of my life, and he chose it in honor of his late best friend. I took up writing when I found myself failing 8th grade science, and realized I might never reach my dream of becoming a biochemist, a meteorologist, and a quantum physicist. I started developing my canon after a scouting trip to an island inspired what I thought would be my first novel. I founded this website upon the advice of many people, who told me I needed to get my work out there, and not wait for an agent to accept my manuscript. You can expect one new story every day. Weekdays are for microstories, which are one or two paragraphs long. They're usually only thematically linked, so you won't have to read one to understand another, but they do sometimes tell a combined story. Sundays are for my continuous longer story, The Advancement of Leona Matic, which I started in the beginning, and won't end until 2066. Saturdays are for long series, most of which take place in the same universe as Leona, and add to the larger mythology.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Microstory 549: Bellevue Increasing Scope to Utah

Back in the early 1990s—and earlier, for that matter—only a select few people know that there existed those with extraordinary abilities. At first, it was only family and friends, with the occasional passerby catching sight of something they weren’t supposed to. In the midst of the great revelation to the rest of the world, the organization responsible for bringing them together was still trying to figure out exactly what it was. They knew that they wanted to be involved with these powerful anomalies, and they knew that they wanted to be leaders in the advancement of science, but something felt missing. As it turns out, what they hadn’t quite found yet were law enforcement, and even public policy. Bellevue became an agency; one designed at first only to protect anomalies, and people from anomaly dangers. The thing about this, though, was that the scope was far too narrow. The number of Bellevue members far exceeded the number of threats, and intensity, of threats. And so, they gradually began increasing their scope. They offered their abilities, knowledge, and skills to other law enforcement organizations. They were working the Confederacy, national investigators, and local orderkeepers. Pretty soon, most of what they were dealing with had little to nothing to do with anomalies. They were simply a force for good, safety, and equality. This is the Bellevue we know today. Most living anomalies are still active members, technological advancement remains their number one priority, but most of the world accepts them as another group of trained professionals exercising authority over the populace. But this does not cover the entire world. There are still some regions that reject their authority, probably the most notable being Utah.

The country of Utah is one of only a handful of nations that are each geographically within the entirety of another. In this case, Utah is as completely surrounded by Usonia, and is just as large as—and in some cases, larger than—other Usonian states. In fact, Utah began as any other state, just one that was more heavily populated by religious followers of Amadesis. However, things have changed a great deal since then. A nuclear explosion here, a war there, total global nuclear disarmament, and the Amadesins were given control over the majority of Utah land. Historically speaking, the Amadesin Utah has been resistant to any interference or interaction with any other country, maintaining a policy of isolationism. Few visitors are ever allowed on Utah soil, and for the most part, that’s how non-Utahan like it. Bellevue has recently taken a stance against this, stating that they no longer accept the idea that anyone living on this planet has the right to ignore anyone else. In a press briefing this morning, they have officially increased their scope to Utah. This does not mean Utah accepts this declaration, but it does force its leadership’s hands, calling upon them to take some level of action in response. They have so far made no move, and it is unclear what they will choose to do, but experts discredit any theory that any act of violence could seriously threaten the strength, and the will, of the Bellevue authority.